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Tennis kills. Did you know it was responsible for the death of James IV of Scotland? That Stewart monarch was a tennis freak, and had a custom-built court laid at Dunkeld. To stop the constant loss of balls he blocked off all exits from the courtyard, including the royal escape route. Which he very much regretted one night when some assassins arrived.

Nowadays you cannot so much as walk on a court without someone coming at you with a breadknife. Oh well, it probably won't stop countless Megadrive owners risking life and limb with this fab new Tennis sim from Tengen.

Davis Cup Tennis bears close similarities to Loriciel's Amiga Tennis, and is programmed by the same software house.

Davis Cup has all the major strokes of the real thing, which are vital for adding some strategy to the reflex gameplay. Normally, a button will give you a standard return - a volley, topspin and passing shot are all pretty similar ground strokes. By pushing the joypad at the same time, stroke variety is brought into play. High lobs bypass a net player and dropshots force a player in from the baseline. Davis Cup uses the new six-button pad, by placing the variety strokes in the top three button positions.

The training options in Davis Cup are quite comprehensive. Five different modes test five different skills. 'Service' teaches you service positioning; 'Precision' is geared to learning to aim for specific court areas; 'Speed' forces you to race around the court hitting a sequence of balls; 'Ball' is an informal knockabout between two players; Practice is a solo session with a ball machine.

A lot of attention to detail has gone into Davis Cup Tennis, which adds an atmosphere previously missing from Sega tennis games. The umpire keeps score, with his incredibly deep voice, and other linesman make calls. Ball boys and girls pick up stray shots, and all manner of rules (including time violations) have been faithfully included. The best original feature is the 'contest' option that allows you to argue with the umpire about calls. It's a real laugh, and sometimes his decision is actually swayed by your McEnroe-esque antics!

Tennis is a year round job, now that it's big in every hemisphere, indoors and out. One of three tournament options puts you in a week-by-week, globe-trotting scenario, judging your success by your earnings and rankings.

Someone's finally played a master stroke when it comes to Megadrive tennis. Just when it seemed a tennis Megagame was impossible, Loriciel produce a great-looking, fab-sounding sports sim, that's also a gem to play.

The presentation is just superb, for once it seems that the programmer has thought of all the features the player wants, including the competent split-screen mode. It plays at a rocket speed, but tactics and subtlety are given ample space to develop.

After a shaky start to the tennis season (remember Andre Agassi anyone?) it seems Megadrive owners are at last being spoiled for choice. Just a fortnight after we receive the rather spiffy Amazing Tennis, Davis Cup Tennis lands in the office - and it's absolutely brilliant!

Every variety of shot is possible, it sounds like Barry White was employed especially to umpire the matches, the computer challengers are rock and boy is it fast! Power up a return and just watch your opponent run for cover!

Still, they're wearing 'em tight this year apparently, and it shouldn't really detract from what is by far the finest Megadrive tennis sim yet seen. Buy, you fools!

Presentation 96%
P. Polished to the nth degree, with court details, stats, options and atmosphere.

Sound 91%
P. Pukka digitised speech. Best tennis groans ever!

Playability 90%
P. Speedy smooth gameplay, and not too hard to learn the controls.
N. The manic precision of the computer players makes solo games traumatic.

Lastability 88%
P. All the manifold options and challenges make this a classic return-to game.
N. Everyone's enthusiasm for tennis wanes eventually.

Overall 90%
The best, and surely the definitive, and unquestionably grooviest tennis game for the Megadrive, at last!